Doctor Who Confidential Axed

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Scrapped due to cost cutting measures. See, this is what happens when you moan about the license fee

The BBC is axing Doctor Who Confidential as part of spending cuts, the Guardian website has revealed.

BBC 3’s Doctor Who Confidential has been giving weekly behind-the-scenes looks at each new episode of Doctor Who since the show returned in 2005. However, the programme has become a victim of the BBC being forced to make cuts of up to 20% across its output.

BBC controller Zai Bennett is understood to be pursuing a strategy of focusing investment on original commissions in post-watershed time slots and has decommissioned shows including Ideal , Hotter Than My Daughter , Coming Of Age and long-running sitcom Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps .

Speaking last month at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, Bennett said: "It’s about focusing my budget on 9pm and 10.30pm; those are the time slots that count. Budgets are tight, so we have to be sensible with the money we have.”

A spokeswoman for the BBC told the Guardian : “ Doctor Who Confidential has been a great show for BBC3 over the years but our priority now is to build on original British commissions, unique to the channel.”